For Bigelow, benefits go beyond a cup of tea

By Alexander Soule

Published
3:57 pm EDT, Thursday, April 19, 2018

Bigelow Tea CEO Cindi Bigelow speaks to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, during the group's annual dinner held April 18, 2018, at the Dolce Norwalk conference center in Norwalk, Conn.

Bigelow Tea CEO Cindi Bigelow speaks to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, during the group's annual dinner held April 18, 2018, at the Dolce Norwalk conference center in Norwalk, Conn.

Photo: Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Bigelow Tea CEO Cindi Bigelow speaks to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, during the group's annual dinner held April 18, 2018, at the Dolce Norwalk conference center in Norwalk, Conn.

Bigelow Tea CEO Cindi Bigelow speaks to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, during the group's annual dinner held April 18, 2018, at the Dolce Norwalk conference center in Norwalk, Conn.

Photo: Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media

For Bigelow, benefits go beyond a cup of tea

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As Cindi Bigelow describes it, she was reduced to tears on hiking up a Sri Lankan mountainside and meeting the village women who pluck Ceylon tea leaves that for decades have been shipped half a world away and bagged in Connecticut, to the benefit of both those farmers, the family business their work supports and legions of tea drinkers besides.

It was with excitement on Wednesday night that the CEO of Bigelow Tea announced another development for her company — its qualification as a “benefit corporation” certifying its mission as benefiting the greater good, becoming among the first major companies in Connecticut to secure the label.

Under both the benefit corporation qualifier bestowed by Connecticut and other states, as well as the B Corp certification of the nonprofit B Labs, companies can showcase their impact on social and environmental issues of importance to communities. As of April 1, Bigelow Tea’s parent company was one of about 130 Connecticut companies listed as a benefit corporation; about 2,500 companies have achieved the B Corp designation.

Bigelow spoke Wednesday evening to members of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce as part of the group’s annual dinner held at the Dolce Norwalk conference center in West Norwalk, holding forth on topics ranging from her favorite varieties of tea to the fiscal crisis facing Connecticut, where Bigelow Tea has its headquarters in Fairfield where half of its 400 employees work.

Bigelow described Wednesday an array of social initiatives of Bigelow Tea ranging from supplying veteran’s groups with free tea, to its newly won status as a benefit corporation.

“To be a benefit corporation, your mission has to be more than just money,” Bigelow said. “It is such an important part of who we are today, giving back to the community.”

Bigelow Tea was created by Ruth Campbell Bigelow, who moved to Wilton from New York City with her husband David and created R.C. Bigelow in Norwalk in the early 1960s to sell tea under the “Constant Comment” tag.

Under granddaughter Cindi Bigelow, the company’s Bigelow Tea is among the best known of Connecticut’s homegrown consumer products brands. As many as one of every four boxes of tea sold in the United States is made by her company, Bigelow said, with Bigelow Tea in the top two sellers across all three major categories of black, green and herbal teas.

Bigelow said the tea company’s chase for benefit corporation certification shows that revenue is not the end-all, be-all in Fairfield.

“I do not wake up every morning just to make a tea bag,” Bigelow said. “I wake up every morning jacked and energized ... about creating an environment where everyone really brings out their desire and ability to make a difference — every single day — on every little thing that we do.”